Welcome back to all our St Ita’s families, I hope you have all had a restful break and feel rejuvenated, relaxed and recharged. Term 2 was again different to say the least and I would like to thank all our families for the patience and support you afforded our teaching staff during off site remote learning.

St Ita’s staff did an amazing job working with your children last term and are prepared for the possibility of more off site learning should the need arise due to Covid-19. If and when this happens, please remember your children are at the core of everything we do and we will make sure we keep them safe and secure whilst under our care.

This term, our main focus will be on our annual school concert held at the West Gippsland Arts Centre. We have been blessed that Mrs. Jenny Adrichem has stayed on with us to create and present the 2021 school concert but it is a very big secret that involves the making of some amazing animal props with a “Rumble in the Jungle” kind of feel. Stay tuned and we’ll send out more information to each classroom via Class DoJo.

A big thank you to all our parents, students and staff who once again, have navigated their way through the unknown waters of a term interrupted by COVID-19. We totally understand the challenges and frustrations that COVID-19 creates in our community but we must also remain open to the fact that at the end of the day, we are about creating safe climates within schools to ensure each person in every learning community is kept as safe as possible. The Health Department and DOSCEL are responsible for setting rules and conditions to make sure we are doing our very best for all in our learning community to limit any outbreaks.

This term I’m confident that we will be able to make some changes to a few of the current COVID-19 practices and restrictions, so we can start rebuilding a sense of community in our schools by promoting parents getting back, actively involved in the St Ita’s community.

Depending what happens over the next fortnight, and if we can keep COVID-19 cases to the current number, I’m hopeful that we will be able to initiate the following changes in our school;

• Run our whole school assemblies every second Friday, inviting parents of children presenting class news and school prayer.
• Run school tours for all our new foundation enrolments
• Introduce the class sausage sizzle on the school site for parents to meet their children’s teachers from 11.45-12.45pm. We got through our foundation BBQ earlier this term and it was a huge success. The next BBQ (Date to be advised) will be for our Grade 1 students, parents and siblings.
• Allow parents the opportunity to participate in Parent Helper Induction and work in a support/helper role in the classroom

Our car line drop off and pick up will continue as normal at the school admin loop and the Drouin Rec Reserve and we ask that you adhere to a 10 km speed limit.  Please do not park in these areas and walk your children onto the site. Any parents wanting to park and walk their children to the gates at the school site can park in the Church Car park and walk up the ramp to see their children through the gates. 

One of our greatest challenges working in a COVID-19 environment with no active cases is a mindset of. Its not here in our community so its business as usual. Sadly we can not operate this way. Whist I understand parent frustrations and value their opinions and thoughts on COVID-19, it’s important that parents understand we are expected to follow rules and regulations as set out by our employer DOSCEL and by State Government departments. I thank all parents for their continued support in making sure St Ita's is a safe teaching and learning community and look forward to getting some things back to normal in Term 3.

COPING WITH STRESS

STEP 4. PRACTICE PROBLEM SOLVING

Over our last 3 newsletters our supplement for parents has outlined The 5 Essential Steps To Help Children Cope with Stress.

Today we look at step 4. Practice Problem Solving

Once your child has reframed stress and adopted a growth mindset, they need to learn how to put these ideas into practice by problem-solving. This will likely take many examples, modelling, and real-life experience before it truly takes root.

You can find a variety of developmentally appropriate activities and strategies for teaching problem-solving here. A good starting point is to teach your child the following three-step process:

Step One: Naming and Validating Emotions. Ask your child to name how they're feeling—overwhelmed, worried, anxious—and then repeat it back to them. “I understand you’re worried you won’t do well on your exam.”

Step Two: Processing Emotions. Guide your child to their calming space. If they don't have one, it's a good idea to create it (we recommend the Time-In Toolkit by Generation Mindful). Let them calm their body and process their emotions so they're ready to problem solve, learn, and grow. You may have older children take deep breaths or practice some growth mindset affirmations. “I can do well on this test if I try.” 

Step Three: Problem Solving! Brainstorm solutions with your child, doing more listening than talking during the conversation. For instance, your child may come up with solutions such as studying with a friend who’s doing well in the class, asking the teacher for extra help, or devoting a certain amount of time to studying each day. 

Once you’ve brainstormed solutions, help your child think through the positive and negative consequences of each proposed idea and then choose one. Your child may need prompting but aim to contribute only open-ended questions to the conversation, allowing your child to do most of the problem-solving themselves.

If the initial plan (let’s call it Plan A) doesn’t work, your child will have numerous backup plans ready and waiting. Knowing this will make their problem much less stressful. And once they master the art of problem-solving, they’ll have the tools they need to tackle stressful situations on their own.